I started with a rough sketch to get a feel for the piece I was creating. I then traced this image and amended some of the areas that I thought needed changing.

I did a few samples as I wanted to try a new technique – painting on tea! I also tried painting on watercolour but I felt that the grey made no difference to creating a normal sketch.

I was really happy with my tea sample so….

I then tea stained some thick cartridge paper and then transferred my traced image to the final piece.

Now comes the fun part, building up the light and dark areas using graphite and a white pastel pencils (or you could use a white crayon if you prefer) I chose a pastel pencil as this blends nicely with the graphite and tea wash.

I was recently commissioned to paint a piece of artwork for Regent Beauty in Nottingham!

Here’s how I created her:

This is quite a large piece so I transferred my sketch to canvas using a projector. I then decided to roughly paint the outline first and then fill in the gaps with colour. I then painted the final outline keeping some areas rough in the hair to keep to a loose style.

It was lovely to try out another new style. Although she is a little different in theme to my usual art, she still has that mystical mermaid look as if she is a fantasy goddess – and that’s what I love! I am definitely inspired to create more designs like this in the future, maybe mixing in more of a fantasy theme along the way.

You may recognise the first one as “Lady Christmas” I gave her a bit of a revamp!

Thank you for making my 2016 awesome! For the likes, comments and shares on social media, the orders on etsy, redbubble and commissions and of course just for following my journey as an artist and enjoying my art and illustrations!

I especially want to thank those who ordered some commissions. I enjoy creating something that is special to someone and that they will frame and cherish for life. You also have given me some new skills, it’s a great way for me to get out of my comfort zone and experiment a bit more with styles and techniques!

I also want to thank the Facebook page “Gothic & Enchanted” for sharing my art at the start of the year. This definitely gave me a confidence boost and that my art is worth something!

Who knows what 2017 will hold?

I am currently working on a book cover which is most definitely testing my skills, a few unfinished paintings and some new things planned for Entwine Handmade too! I’m very excited!

As a thank you present, you can get 10% off a £10 spend in my etsy shop by using the code “THANKYOU10” at the checkout!

Hey guys! I want to show you a step by step of how I created my “Elven Princess” painting!

All my progress photos have come from my Instagram page @VictoriaThorpeArt. If you’d like to see work in progress photos as I go please give me a follow!

The beautiful @WonderfullyWackyWebster on Instagram kindly let me use her as a model – be sure to check out her profile, she’s so cool!

When I first saw the photo I knew she would make a beautiful Elven Princess! I then started to sketch changing a few features and adding a head piece! Below is my finished sketch which I then transferred onto watercolour paper.

I then decided on a colour scheme. I decided to go for a bright spring colour scheme and tested my colours on paper to make sure I was making the right choice with colours!

Next I used masking fluid to mask out the headpiece and earring as I knew it would be hard to keep these areas free of paint when painting the hair!
For the background I used a mop brush to add lots of water then I added 2 shades of green and pink. I left the paint to naturally dry to create this cool texture that looks like blossom in the trees.

I then used a flesh tone for the skin adding blue and black for shadows and crimson for the lips and cheeks. I also started to add other details to the face and started to build up purple and black on the dress.

I then started on the hair which took a long time as I wanted to create a mix of different shades of brown and add texture too. Next I painted the headpiece with yellow ochre with gold acrylic on top to make it shiny!